House Endorses Funding Plan for Mental Hospital

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri House members have endorsed a proposal for funding a new facility on the Fulton State Hospital campus.

The hospital is Missouri’s only maximum-security psychiatric facility and the oldest public mental health facility west of the Mississippi River. Patients include those committed by the courts for evaluation and treatment, and people found not guilty or unable to stand trial because of mental disease.

The most recent proposal calls for issuing bonds and paying them back within five years. Next year’s budget would have $44 million to begin paying off the bonds. Lawmakers are considering several options to fund the project.

House members approved the measure Tuesday, and it needs another vote before moving to the Senate.